Y'all tell em' to focus on school, keep ya head the books
and stay out of these streets.
But what is He supposed to do, when the Streets have him tripping over his own feet?

lurking around every corner,
confronted daily with His own eyes,
that's where He is meant to be.

The glamorized life of the Hustle,
You'll never know pain unless you the Struggle.
The same pain that causes them to shoot, but never aim.
what is He supposed to do when the streets are calling His name?

Y'all hold His hand and guide Him in the wrong direction, but then tell Him to do the right thing.
does this even make sense or is He confused by the bullet's sting.

Did you forget that He loves you,
that He wants to be accepted,
Gotta be just like You, even though you never said.
what are you supposed to do when the streets are coming after you?

Hiding in every shadow,
lurking in every crevasse.
Not a single OG could ever prepare us.

3 bullets to the chest. ringing in his ears.
blood gushing out black,
his mama screaming through her tears.

the Streets will watch you your whole life,
****** you up from home.
Do you how they Do you.
til most of You is gone.

Yea, times are tough
and this mentality is rough.
But what are you supposed to do, when the streets are after you?

even in the late midnight hour,
when the drizzle of tantalizing pain quickly turns into showers
when **** is coming down and getting Heavy
You are Enough.

even when you remember all the lies that he fed you,  
how he swore on his mama's life that he would rather die than hurt you.
maybe, he lied to her too.

Baby Girl, You're still Enough.

when you remember how he stressed leaving you wasn't an option
that went up in flames,
right along with his conscience.
Baby Girl, You'll always be Enough.
He couldn't see the light in you, but that doesn't mean stop shinning.
He was never right for You, stop wasting your time trying.

trying to understand, trying to make him a better man.
trying to make sense of things, when no one else can.

Baby girl, You are more than **Enough

You were just a raindrop in my ocean but my god you created waves,
You rippled throughout my life and I just wanted more of what you gave

But then the sun returned and away went my cloudy day,
And sadly I'm left sitting here and there is nothing left to say

When did girls start becoming so self-conscious of their looks?
When did the focus shift from baby dolls and fairytales to makeup and skipping dinner?
One day we are pretending to be moms, the next day we are taking measures that could ruin our chances of being that
Scraped knees and muddy feet turn into nylons and stilettos
Girls slowly come to the realization that they must become the objects pleasing to the eyes of men if they want to get far in life
Beauty becomes a job and we put in our hours day in and day out
Our only payment becomes the compliments, the catcalls, and the brief feeling of acceptance
These are only temporary and it isn’t long before we begin to feel withdrawals of our need for acceptance
We push harder for the attention of others, but we can never measure up to that prettier girl next to us
Scrolling the Internet for remedies to make our not so soft skin softer, trying to buy the newest eyeliner to make our not so big eyes bigger, sticking our fingers down our throats to make our not so skinny waist skinnier
When will this madness end?
No matter how hard we try we can never reach perfection, someone will always seem better in our eyes
But then comes the ridicule for being “fake”
You can’t wear makeup anymore, it’s false advertising!
But when you don’t you are ridiculed for how imperfect your skin is, how small your eyes are, and how thin your lips look
Girls are made fun of for being too fat, and they are made fun of for being too skinny
Insults ranging from “Hey fatso!” to “Oh my gosh! She must have a eating disorder”
Girls get thrown into this circus, forced to walk the tightrope while the crowd shouts and throws their opinions in hopes of knocking someone off
“Come one, come all! Lets see how far she gets before she falls!”
No matter which way you go someone will root for you to fail
The little girl who dreamed of being a princess now dreams to be let out of this hell she has been put in
And one day, our daughters will have to face the same things…
Unless we fight for them
It’s time to take care of each other
A single compliment, a smile can go a long way
One day my little girl will look at me and ask
“How can I be beautiful?”
And I will answer
*“My darling, beauty isn’t defined by looks, beauty by looks is fleeting, you will be beautiful by how you find the beauty in others, you will be beautiful in the way you are respectful to those superior to you, you will be beautiful for your love for the hurting, and you will be beautiful because my darling,
God made you beautiful in your own way,
From the Inside Out”